the only signs of cultivation around; fish sported in the river;
and the wild animals of the forest afforded the inhabitants the chief
means of subsistence. They welcomed the travellers. Peter was of their
tribe. They gave them tidings of old Michael. He had been seen to pass
just before the snow had begun to melt in the warmer valleys.

Peter did not fail to tell his red-skinned brothers of the wonderful
tidings the white-face missionary at the fort had brought.

"The great God of the white-faces loves us as much as He does them," he
exclaimed. "He wishes us to go and dwell with Him in a far better land
than the happy hunting-grounds we have hitherto heard of. He says that
we are wicked, and deserve punishment; but He has allowed another, His
own well-beloved Son, to be punished instead of us; and all He wants us
to do is to believe that His dutiful and well-beloved Son was so
punished, and to follow the example which He set while He was on earth."

"These are wise things you tell us," cried several of the Crees; "but
how do you know that it is so?"

"Because it is all written in a book which He has given to us. He sends
His Holy Spirit to all who seek for His aid to understand that book."

Laurence assured the Crees that he had thought us they then did a short
time ago, but that now he knew that all Peter said was true. So
earnestly did Peter plead the cause of the gospel, that many of the
Crees promised to visit the fort, to hear from the missionary himself
further on the subject.

Several of the inhabitants offered to accompany Laurence and his friends
to assist them in their search, and to spread the strange tidings they
had heard among others of their tribe whom they might fall in with.

For several days they journeyed on, lakes and streams being visited as
before. At last they found a broken trap. Laurence, on examining it,
decided that it belonged to his father. Still he must have gone further
to the west. Laurence began to fear that he might have wandered into a
part of the country frequented by Blackfeet and Peigans, among the most
savage tribes of the Sioux.

"He is friendly with many of the Sioux, among whom, indeed, I was
brought up," observed Laurence, "and fears none of them. Still, I know
how treacherous many of them are; and he may, I fear, have fallen into
their power. This will account for his not returning to the fort."

"He may, however, have escaped them, and be still trappin